THE Pembrokeshire Murders writer has revealed how a serial killer’s son helped write the drama as he had a ‘score to settle with his dad’.
The new three-part ITV drama tracks the murders of real life Welsh serial killer John Cooper.
Luke Evans plays newly promoted Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins, who in 2006, decides to reopen two unsolved murder cases from the 1980s, which eventually lead to Cooper being caught.
Writer Nick Stevens had the chance to meet with John’s son, Andrew, who helped him get more details about the story than those that were in the book already released about his crimes.
Speaking to The Celeb Report Online and other media during a Q&A for the drama, he said: “One of the happy discoveries that I made in the course of reading the book, was this detail that when the detectives interviewed Cooper, they interviewed him over the course of three days, whenever he felt under threat, he would implicate his son, Andrew.
“And in the book, it was very clear that Steve Wilkins was disgusted by this strategy, as any parent would be, why would you implicate your son in such terrible crimes?
“And it gave me a real fire to find Andrew, and tell his story, and meeting with him and spending a lot of time with him, delivered an additional storyline not in the book, which I think enrich the eventual drama.”
Nick had “quite a job” finding Andrew initially, but with the help of ITV journalist Jonathan Hill, he was able to set up a meeting.
He continued: “I was quite apprehensive about the first meeting, here I am TV writer wanting to burrow into the darkest recesses of this man’s private life.
“And he was never anything but totally generous and open. And he saw this as an opportunity to set the record straight, to tell his side of the story.
“And maybe revenge is too strong a word, but he had a score to settle with his absent father. And he saw this drama as an opportunity to do precisely that.”
Keith Allen plays John Cooper in the drama, while the cast also includes Game of Thrones’ Owen Teale, Alexandria Riley and David Fynn.
The Pembrokeshire Murders airs on ITV in January 2021.
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